A slice of the life I'm trying to cultivate

[torquill]

"Hmm, I feel like some rhubarb cobbler for dessert."

Go downstairs, get shoes and flashlight, head out to the garden. Pull a good double handful of rhubarb stalks. Bring them inside, wash and trim them. Cut them into 1/2" pieces, as the plant variety is such that peeling is unnecessary.

Pull out a small casserole and dump the pieces in. Look up a rhubarb pie recipe for the flour:sugar ratio, eyeball the amount of fruit, and estimate amounts. Pour the flour and sugar mix on. Toss some oatmeal in a bowl, add a half-handful of brown sugar, a dollop of flour, and a few tablespoons of butter; mash it together. Cover the top of the fruit with it.

Look at a few more recipes, set the oven to 425F, toss in the casserole dish, and set the timer to 35 minutes as a first guess. Head back upstairs. Watch old TV shows while the aroma of cobbler wafts up the stairs. Go down and pull it out. Watch some more TV until it's cool enough to touch. Eat dessert. Elapsed time since the rhubarb was pulled off the plant: 90 minutes.

I can cook well enough I don't need recipes for everything. I have a garden which provides us with something we all love, year-round, 24 hours a day. I have an hour in my evening which I can devote to combining the two.

This is the life I'm slowly working toward, and I love it.

Comments

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

You are aware that chard and beets are the same species, yes? The only thing distinguishing them is whether the individual variety has a tendency to grow a starchy root for storage. So beet greens are the same thing as chard, albeit with an added bonus of the root. :) (If you ever wanted just the greens without the time/space commitment of the root, chard will give you that.)

I like beets roasted, though more often I take the quicker option and just cook them in the microwave like sweet potatoes. I can't eat many raw before they start arguing with me.